12:14pm:
Play begins at the twentieth level. Blinds were 10,000/20,000
with a 3,000 ante. The average chip stack was 1,135,000.
Immediately there was a string of eliminations, as
the short stacks made their stands. The following
details show Time
busted, Finishing position, Name, Place where they
are based, Prize money collected:

12:17pm
112 Thomas Koo Costa Rica $58,570

12:18pm
111 Andrew Gunderson Hoboken, NJ $58,570

12:26pm
110 Andreas Krause Stuttgart, Germany $58,570

12:30pm
109 Christopher Lovelace Brandon, MS $58,570

12:36pm
108 Paul Spritzberg Tenafly, NJ $58,570

12:42pm
107 Jimmy Blevins Oakland, NE $58,570

12:43pm
106 Travis Belles Las Vegas, NV $58,570

12:44pm
105 Zhuang Han Smithtown, NY $58,570

12:44pm:
Scotty Nguyen won a big hand, crippling Cory Carroll
in the process. Scotty bet 125,000 on the turn and
Cory called. The river came a Queen and Scotty bet
300,000. Cory raised it to 750,000 and Scotty called,
showing pocket Queens for a full house. Corey showed
his Ace-Queen, losing the hand and being crippled
to 350,000. Scotty moved up to 2,200,000.

12:50pm
104 Richard Crowell Scottsdale, AZ $58,570

12:50pm:
Avi Cohen won a huge pot, when Charis Anastasiou moved
all in to a pot which already had 1,200,000 in it.
Cohen called, and showed that he had a runner-runner
flush with the King. Anastasiou mucked and Cohen pumped
his hands in the air in delight, moving his chip stack
to 4,700,000. Anastasiou has only 300,000.

1:02pm
103 Brian Tracy St Louis, MO $58,570

1:32pm:
Alan Keating was eliminated by Maria Ho. Maria raised
in the small blind, and Keating moved all-in from
the big blind. Ho called with King-Jack unsuited,
but Keating was in front with Ace-Queen unsuited,
but the flop came perfect for Ho, J-K-5. When the
turn hit J she filled up and it was all over for Keating
who picks up $58,570 for his 102nd place.

1:32pm
102 Alan Keating Birmingham, AL $58,570

1:33pm
101 Pete de Best Yorba Linda, CA $58,570

1:34pm
100 Cody Slaubaugh Rugby, ND $58,570

1:36pm
99 Joe Shield St Pete Beach, FL $67,535

1:46pm
98 Alan Levin Sante Fe, NM $67,535

1:47pm
97 Chad Brown Los Angeles, CA $67,535

1:48pm:
Young and fearless Italian internet player Dario Minieri
exited the tournament, on a flush draw. His opponent
had a set, and all the money went in the middle on
the turn. Dario missed his flush and was out, picking
up $67,535 for his 96th place.

1:48pm
96 Dario Minieri Rome, Italy $67,535

1:49pm:
The second last woman in the field, Kelly Jo McGlothlin,
busted out when she moved in her relatively short-stack
of 367,000 into the middle of the table with 2-9 of
hearts on a flush draw. Her opponent, Senovio Ramirez
III called and showed his pocket 10s. There was no
improvement for McGlothlin and she takes home $67,535
for her 95th place, and bragging rights that she beat
every woman in the field, bar one. That one is Maria
Ho, of Arcadia, California, now cemented in place
as the tournament's highest placed woman. I have been
following Maria closely and she is playing well, with
about 1,000,000 in chips. A Bodog sponsor's tag has
suddenly materialized on her clothes, and she is tasting
considerable media attention.

1:49pm
95 Kelly Jo McGlothin Palmdale, CA $67,535

1:50pm
94 Isaac Haxton Syracuse, NY $67,535

1:51pm
93 Michael Zinna San Antonio, TX $67,535

1:52pm
92 Charis Anastasiou Limassol, Cyprus $67,535

1:54pm
91 Cory Caroll United Kingdom $67,535

2:12pm:
With the board reading 10-5-6-10-Q with no possible
flushes, Francois Safieddine bet his last 200,000.
After waiting several minutes, Tuan Lam asked him
"do you want a call?" Safieddine's response was a
stony silence. Finally Tuan called, and Safieddine
tossed his hand away without even showing, and headed
to the rail. Tuan showed his cards: no pair, just
A-K.

2:12pm 90 Francois Safieddine Denver, CO $82,476

2:17pm:
Scotty Nguyen kicked up to 2,700,000 in chips he moved
all in on a busted flush draw. His opponent Kevin
Kim thought long and hard, before finally folding.
Scotty showed his worthless 7-8 of spades much to
Kim's dismay.

2:41pm:
The twenty-first level begins, with blinds of 12,000/24,000
and a 3,000 ante.

2:49pm
89 John Bird Dade City, FL $82,476

2:58pm:
Alex Kravchenko, the sole Russian left in the field,
bet 100,000 on a flop of A-7-5 rainbow (meaning three
different suits). Richard Harris raised another 100,000,
making the bet 200,000. Kravchenko's reply was to
re-raise, making it 300,000 to go. Harris called.
The turn came 2 of spades, making a second spade on
the board. Kravchenko immediately bet 500,000, building
a monster pot. Harris pondered for a considerable
time, before folding. Kravchenko moves to 2,640,000
in chips.

3:04pm
88 Jared Hamby Henderson, NV $82,476

3:05pm
87 Jeffrey Weill Richfield, OH $82,476

3:06pm
86 Justin Sadauskas Chicago, IL $82,476

3:20pm
85 David Wells Kent, England $82,476

3:32pm
84 Mark Ellerbe Richmond, TX $82,476

4:08pm
83 Humberto Brenes Costa Rica $82,476

4:15pm
82 Francis Cagney Laguna Niguel, CA $82,476

4:19pm
81 Thierry van den Berg Almere, Holland $106,382

4:21pm
80 Sven Niklas Heinecker Hamberg, Germany $106,382

4:26pm
79 Tommy Le Orange County, CA $106,382

4:37pm
78 David Names San Ramon, CA $106,382

5:06pm:
The twenty-second level begins, with blinds of 15,000/30,000
and a 4,000 ante.

5:08pm
77 Willie Tann London, England $106,382

5:13pm
76 Josh Evans Plano, TX $106,382

5:14pm
75 Leonard Pruzansky Richmond, TX $106,382

5:17pm
74 Rich Murnick Montclair, NJ $106,382

5:20pm:
Huck Seed, one of only two former champions still
in the hunt, is eliminated in 73rd place, the last
player to pick up $106,382 before the prize money
jumps to $130,288. Huck Seed is known for his outrageous
proposition bets. He once bet that he could go an
entire year without shaving. He lost that bet when
he had to shave before a family funeral. He has also
bet that he could stand in the ocean for 18 hours
straight.

5:20pm
73 Huckleberry Seed Las Vegas, NV $106,382

5:22pm
72 Billy Willis Edmore, MI $130,288

5:29pm
71 Ed de Haas Amsterdam, Holland $130,288

5:30pm:
Warren Karp looks down at his hand to see the best
hand in poker, a pair of Aces. When Kevin Farry raised
it up pre-flop to 100,000, Karp moved all in for 900,000.
Farry called, and Karp was extremely unlucky when
a 5 fell on the turn. Karp was eliminated and Farry
moved up to 2,870,000 in chips.

5:30pm
70 Warren Karp Lake Forest, CA $130,288

5:32pm:
An enormous pot develops. Avi Cohen check-called Scott
Freeman's 175,000 bet on a flop of 9h-Kd-6h, the turn
comes 10 of diamonds and Cohen bets 400,00 but Freeman
moves all in for 1,009,000!! Cohen called and tuned
over 7-8 for the straight, but Freeman had 6-8 diamonds
for the flush draw. The river came 5 of diamonds and
Freeman pulled a huge pot.

6:02pm
69 Brandon Adams Cambridge, MA $130,288

6:08pm
68 Dennis Perry Williamstown, KY $130,288

6:08pm:
German Stig Tap Rasmussen pulls off an audacious bluff
when he moves all-in for over 1,000,000 to a pot that
already had about 800,000 in it. Hoa Nguyen folded,
and Rasmussen showed his Ace-10 for just Ace high,
no pair. Rasmussen moved to 1,620,000 and Nguyen slipped
to 1,280,000.

6:20pm
67 Diego Cordovez Palo Alto, CA $130,288

6:27pm:
A call with three seconds to go. After being in the
tank thinking for what seemed like forever, the 1
minute clock was called on Kenneth Smith by his opponent
Dag Martin Mikkelsen. The minute ran out and the ten
second countdown ensured. As the floorman counts "five,
four, three", Smith yells out "I call, I call!" He
regrets his decision, the board was 6-Q-3-4-2 and
his Queen-9 was outkicked by Mikkelsen's Ace-Queen.

6:28pm
66 Ryan Lawrence Lethbridge, Canada $130,288

6:40pm
65 Bjorn-Erik Glenne Norway $130,288

6:44pm
64 Julian Gardner Manchester, UK $130,288

6:55pm
63 Matt Keikoan San Rafael, CA $154,194

7:06pm:
With the level already ended but the a final hand
of the level still in progress, Jeff Tunkel was eliminated.
Five players saw the flop but it came down to Tunkel
(holding 9-10 clubs) and Ray Henson (holding pocket
jacks) with a board of 6c-8s-Jc. Tunkels monster draw
did not improve and he busted out to Henson's set.
Henson moved into the tournament lead with 6,200,000
in chips.

7:06pm
62 Jeff Tunkel Naperville, IL $154,194

7:07pm:
Well respected pro Gus Hansen was eliminated well
into the break time, on the last hand before the break
on his table. Hansen had been short-stacked for some
time and made a stand with his final 99,000 with a
hand of King-5 unsuited. He was up against Jason Koshi's
Queen-4, but Koshi spiked a 4 on the turn and Hansen
was out.

7:07pm
61 Gus Hansen Monaco $154,194

7:08pm:
The break was also bad news for John Spadavecchia,
who moved all in with Ace-10 unsuited and lost to
King-Jack when a Jack came on the flop and a King
on the river.

7:08pm
60 John Spadavecchia Lighthoos Point, FL $154,194

7:09pm:
The room was cleared of spectators and Tournament
staff coloured up all the yellow 1,000 chips and introduced
50,000 chips to the tournament for the first time.

9:00pm:
Play recommences at the twenty-third level, with blinds
of 20,000/40,000 and antes of 5,000. It now costs
105,000 to play a lap of the table nine-handed, which
is more than five times the amount of chips that players
were first issued with! A single big blind is double
the player's starting stack amount at the beginning
of day 1. There is a rush of eliminations after dinner:

9:11pm
59 Floyd Clark Littleton, CO $154,194

9:13pm
58 Naseem Salem Spring Valley, CA $154,194

9:14pm
57 Hyon Kim Hillsborough, NJ $154,194

9:36pm
56 Kirk Morrison Wichita, KS $154,194

9:38pm
55 Paul Kershaw United Kingdom $154,194

9:41pm
54 Richard Harris Swansea, United Kingdom $190,053

9:53pm
53 Mickey Seagle Las Vegas, NV $190,053

9:59pm
52 Tom Peterson La Crosse, WI $190,053

10:00pm-10:30pm:
The room suddenly goes very quiet, as the players
seem to realize as one that they are now in the very
serious money. US$8.25 million is at stake here. For
an entire 30 minutes there are no eliminations, as
each player desperately tries to hang on. Almost every
hand seems to be a pre-flop raise followed by a complete
fold by the rest of the table. Even still, some hands
take as long as six or seven minutes. No player calls
time on any other player, as they are hoping that
other players around them will bust out and every
minute counts. But since all of the six remaining
tables are doing this, bust-outs don't happen. It
is like a very serious, high stakes games of watching
paint dry. The entire room takes on the mood of a
Mexican stand-off, no-one wanting to budge first.
Many chips stacks are stacked in such a way that it
is plainly obvious the chips haven't moved for hours.
This is a great example of Tom McEvoy's famous quote
that poker is "hours of boredom punctuated by moments
of sheer terror". Meanwhile, the clock ticks inexorably
down to the next level, when the blinds will increase
yet again, this time to 25,000/50,000 with an ante
of 5,000, at 11pm. The average chip stack is 2.5 million.

10:33pm:
Finally, someone busts out. It is Lamar Wilkinson,
who was only forced to
because he was down to his last 450,000 in chips,
relatively short-stacked. Wilkinson's Ace-King loses
to Lee Childs pair of Kings, when the board comes
with a King. Lee Child's stack increases to a huge
6.5 million.

10:33pm
51 Lamar Wilkinson Pacheco, CA $190,053

10:42pm:
Hevad "Rain" Khan is the room's most animated character.
He has already erupted several times when eliminating
other players. He picks up pocket Jacks, and eliminates
Ken Smith with pocket tens. Khan instantly erupts
in an explosion of energy, throwing both his arms
in the air, "come on, come on…yeah!!!!"

10:42pm
50 Ken Smith Levittown, NY $190,053

10:42pm:
Hevad Khan is on a roll. Only nine minutes after eliminating
Lamar Wilkinson, he picks up pocket Queens and knocks
Adam White's Ace-King out. The moment the last board
card hits, Khan goes wild. He leaps from his chair,
releases all his pent up energy literally shaking
wildly, then picks up his chair, turns it upside down
and wears it as a hat, running around the room yelling
"do you like my new hat!" He is clearly beyond ecstatic
to be this deep in the tournament.

10:48pm
49 Adam White Tempe, AZ $190,053

10:52pm
48 Markus Gonsalves San Diego, CA $190,053

11:00pm:
Players go on a break. 11:20pm: Players commence the
twenty-fourth level, blinds are 25,000/50,000 with
an ante of 5,000. There are 47 players left alive,
with an average chip stack of 2,705,000. The chip
leaders are starting to move in on 10 million in chips.
Player will continue until there are 36 players left,
no matter how long it takes.

11:55pm
47 Nicolas Atlan Paris, France $190,053

12:12am
46 Reagan Silber Las Vegas, NV $190,053

12:19am
45 Stig Tap Rassmussen Köthern, Germany $237,865

12:23am
44 Senovio Ramirez III Mercedes, TX $237,865

12:32am:
Hevad "Rain" Khan does it again. He made it 150,000
to go pre-flop, and got three callers, but then Avi
Cohen moved all-in for his decent sized 2,100,000
stack. Khan was the only caller, turning over Ace-King
making Cohen feel sick with his Ace-8. The board helped
neither player and Cohen was out. This sparked Khan's
totally ballistic celebration, during which for some
inexplicable reason Khan yells out "I'm good at basketball"
to no-one in particular.

12:32am
43 Avi Cohen Boston, MA $237,865

12:38am
42 Dag Martin Mikkelsen Stavanger, Norway $237,865

12:40am
41 Jeff Banghart Bennington, NE $237,865

12:42am
40 Phillip Yeh Stenungsund, Sweden $237,865

1:08am
39 Rep Porter Woodinville, WA $237,865

1:08am:
My personal pick for person mostly likely to go deep
in the tournament, Mario Ho, is out. After coming
to the rail and saying she was going to just survive
to the next day, she decides to move all in with Ace-10
suited. She gets called by Kevin Farry with pocket
tens. The board doesn't help her, and she is busted
as the highest placed female finisher.

1:10am
38 Maria Ho Arcadia, CA $237,865

1:30am:
The players take a twenty minute break. 1:50am: The
players resume for the twenty-fifth level, blinds
are 30,000/60,000 with a 10,000 ante. This means it
costs 170,000 to play a lap of the table. At say eight
hands per lap (some tables are eight handed and some
are nine handed), the average blind and ante cost
per hand now equals the 20,000 that were the starting
stacks of the players. Making it this deep in the
tournament could only have been a dream for these
players at the start. Day 1 seems like a long, long
time ago. There are 37 players remaining alive, and
play will stop when we get to 36 players. Everyone
is desperately trying to hang on for day 6 tomorrow.
Who will be the unlucky last person to be eliminated
today?

2:03am:
We have an answer. The last elimination for day 5
is Ayaz Mahmood. Mahmood and Mikkel Madsen find themselves
in the classic coin flip: Mahmood's Ace-King against
Madsen's pocket Queens. The board comes ten hair and
Mahmood is out.

2:03am
37 Ayaz Mahmood Houston, TX $237,865 2:15am:

It
takes fifteen minutes to bag up the enormous piles
of chips on the tables. The 36 players still in contention
now include only one former winner, Scotty Nguyen
(1998). They are vying for a first prize of US$8.25
million. The top five all receive over US$1 million.
They are all guaranteed a minimum of US$285,678. Those
36 men are: